Secretaries of State across the country are denouncing Attorney General Pam Bondi’s recent demand for access to Minnesota voter rolls — an attempt to tie the Trump administration’s months-long crusade to obtain personal voter information from various states with the recent killing of 37-year-old U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
In a letter to Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz following Pretti’s killing by federal immigration officers, Bondi described the ways in which Walz could end the “chaos” in Minnesota and “restore the rule of law.” One of those things being, as outlined by Bondi, allowing “the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls to confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law as authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1960.”
During a press briefing this week, Walz rejected Bondi’s order and slammed the attorney general for her request.
“I would just give a pro tip to the attorney general — there’s 2 million documents in the Epstein files we’re still waiting on. Go ahead and work on those,” he said.
“The way to fix this is get these [ICE] folks out of here,” he added.
A handful of Democratic secretaries of state who have also been targeted by the DOJ’s voter roll demands have rebuked Bondi’s letter to Minnesota, with one describing the maneuver as “blackmail.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows argued that the ongoing ICE raids, specifically in parts of the country that did not vote for President Trump, are all part of a broader effort to “create chaos and control our states and elections.” Maine is one of a handful of states that the Trump administration is targeting with its ongoing immigration enforcement occupation.
“Attorney General Bondi’s letter to Minnesota made explicit what has long been clear: ICE is invading our states and inflicting violence in order to create chaos and control our states and elections. These sinister actions are Donald Trump’s attempt to assume absolute power,” Bellows said in a statement.
“Let me say this clearly for President Trump: Maine will never turn over our voter rolls as a ransom payment to get ICE to end its unconstitutional assault on our state,” she added.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, similarly spoke against the letter.
“I am horrified that this administration would inflict violence and chaos on American communities and continue to pressure the state into handing over its voter data. This is wrong, morally bankrupt, and a disgrace,” she said.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes described Bondi’s demand as “blackmail.”
“The Department of Justice has now told Minnesota officials that they will remove ICE if they hand over their voter rolls — this is not how the law works,” he said.
In rejecting Bondi’s letter, Minnesota’s own Secretary of State Steve Simon described Bondi’s attempt to connect the DOJ’s voter data order with an end to the “chaos” in Minnesota as “an apparent ransom to pay for our state’s peace and security.”
Bondi’s demand for voter files is part of the Trump administration’s months-long crusade to obtain sensitive voter data from 44 states across the country. The DOJ is currently suing 24 states — including Minnesota — who have not complied with this request, which experts have described as an overreach of the DOJ’s authority, at best.
Against the backdrop of this ongoing DOJ pursuit in Minnesota, a federal judge recently dismissed a related lawsuit in Oregon. The lawsuit was brought by the DOJ against Oregon after the state refused to comply with the DOJ’s demands for voter data.
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai referenced Bondi’s letter in his Monday order, asking lawyers on either side to explain specifically how that letter is relevant to the DOJ’s request.
As part of this ongoing campaign, the DOJ has relied on provisions in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) to justify their order. While both of these statues give the states the authority to engage in voter list maintenance, neither of them give the DOJ this authority.
Justin Levitt, professor of law at Loyola Marymount University, previously told TPM that the DOJ is merely “citing a bunch of things to get the files, without a real reason to believe that states are currently violating any laws.”
Ransom, extortion, blackmail, kidnapping: All apply to the current DOJ.
They are reprehensible.
Golly, FRIST!!!
No actual cat pictures, but here are some cool cats:
John Chowning on the left, whose invention of FM synthesis (and other things) in digital audio led directly to the release of the Yamaha DX7 synth, a groundbreaking and hugely successful musical instrument. On the right is his wife, Maureen, an accomplished vocalist.
They are taking bows at a concert of his early works last May at Meany Hall in Seattle. He’s 91 in that picture, and she sang the final concert piece.
Excellent overview of reactions to the DOJ’s out-of-bounds demands.
Note a typo in next to last paragraph: for “statues” read “statutes.”
Guilty on all counts but knowing your are protected the more guilty you are.
A co-worker asked me a good question. If you can only pick one cabinet member to impeach who would it be? He picked Bondi for all of her corruption and targeting trumps enemies. You can pick many, Bondi, Noem, Hegseth…
I know what I saw on January 6, 2021.
I know what I saw on January 7, 2026.
I know what I saw on January 24, 2026.